Published: 16/12/2014 04:37 PM

Hezbollah uncovers top Mossad agent, reports say

The purported Israeli intelligence operation is said to have foiled a number of overseas Hezbollah attacks.

BEIRUT – Hezbollah has uncovered a top Mossad agent in its elite external operations branch, who helped foil a number of attempts by the Shiite party to avenge the death of Imad Mughniyeh, according to reports.

“After a series of failed security operations outside Lebanon, Hezbollah managed to uncover a Mossad cell within its ranks… [it is] the most serious [intelligence] breach in Hezbollah’s history,” Al-Janoubia reported Tuesday.

The news outlet quoted “sources close to Hezbollah” as saying the cell included four Hezbollah members operating under the command of a Mossad infiltrator, who was the deputy chief of the party’s foreign operations apparatus (Unit 910).

Interrogations of the cell revealed that its leader had financial motives, receiving periodic payments of $1 million from Mossad, sources added.

Lebanese news outlet Elnashra, which broke the story Tuesday morning, reported that a “high ranking member” of Hezbollah’s Unit 910 had been arrested a few weeks ago, without specifying whether the party or Lebanese authorities had detained him.

A source told the website that the alleged agent hails from South Lebanon, and identified him by his initials (M.Sh.)

According to the source, the spy used to work as a businessman, would travel often, and was recruited by Israeli intelligence in a “Western Asian country.”

Foiled Hezbollah operations

Sources told Al-Janoubia that the Mossad “cell” was responsible for the “failure of Hezbollah operations in a number of countries against Israeli interests in past years.”

Two months ago, Peruvian counter-terror police arrested a Lebanese national in possession of explosives for reportedly planning “major attacks” against Jewish targets in the capital Lima.

In March 2013, Cyprus sentenced Lebanese-Swedish national Hossam Yakoub—a self-confessed Hezbollah member—to four years in prison for “criminal activities.” The original terror charges against him were dropped by the prosecutor, and Yakoub has said he was conducting reconnaissance missions and collecting information on “the Jews.”

Later that year, Thailand passed down a 32-month prison sentence against a Swedish man of Lebanese origin accused of having links to Hezbollah, for possessing explosive materials.

According to Al-Janoubia, the repeated failures by Hezbollah’s Unit 910 “caused a state of frustration in the party’s ranks.”

In response, Hezbollah created a special unit operating under the supervision of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, without the knowledge of the party's other security apparatuses.

“After close monitoring of the most important security officials, the unit arrested five Hezbollah members including the [Unit 910 deputy chief],” sources added.

Elnashra reported that the infiltrator had helped “foil many attacks by Hezbollah against Israeli targets aiming to avenge the assassination of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus” in 2008.

Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the mysterious blast that killed its top military commander in Syria and vowed revenge against Tel Aviv.

“Stop910”

Hezbollah’s foreign operations apparatus was named as Unit 910 by the mysterious Stop910 website, which news reports allege is an Israeli intelligence media operation.

“Hezbollah's elite and strictly compartmented clandestine unit is commanded by Talal Hamia, and functions as the far-reaching strategic arm of Hezbollah and Iran,” the site says.

“The unit is composed of a small group of operatives, mainly Lebanese Shiites whose families were not born in Lebanon, some of which even hold authentic foreign identity documents allowing them to travel across the world under false identities and tourist or business cover stories,” it adds.

The site, which describes itself as an “association of western intelligence organizations” was set up to gather information on Hezbollah, specifically Unit 910, in return for cash rewards.

In October 2013, McClatchy Company news cited two anonymous Western intelligence officials as saying the site is “likely an Israeli operation to gather data” on Hezbollah.

“It actually contains a significant amount of raw intelligence that would be literally illegal for American or European services to release to the public without the highest level of clearance,” one of the officials told McClatchy.

Hezbollah reportedly discovered a top Mossad infiltrator within the ranks of its foreign operations unit. (AFP/Ramzi Haidar)

[It is] the most serious [intelligence] breach in Hezbollah’s history.